The multi-coloured flag of modern South Africa is a symbol of its post-apartheid rebirth. But while Nelson Mandela led the country on a "long walk" to freedom, the creation of the flag 20 years ago was a frantic sprint by an unsung hero, writes Xin Fan.

On a Saturday night at the end of February 1994 Fred Brownell's phone rang. The voice on the other end asked him to get a new national flag designed - within a week.

"It scared the living daylights out of me," says Brownell, now 74 and living in retirement in Pretoria.

Brownell was state herald, and had long known that the emerging new South Africa would need a new flag, but until this point he had not been asked to play a central role.

Initially, members of the public had been asked for their ideas. Some 7,000 sketches had been sent in, but none was judged appropriate. Then the authorities had turned to design studios. That too proved fruitless.

Afrikaners resented it because it recalled the forcible unification of the Afrikaner republics with the British colonies. It had more to do with compromise with the English whites than with Afrikaner aspirations. It was kept only because no one could ultimately agree on the ideal flag for the Republic that was established in 1961.

The current flag does incorporate the old Afrikaner colors and its a marriage of those with the traditional Pan African colors that represent the South Africa of today.

A burning tire would be more fitting. SA’s new motto should be “whites need not apply”, as is written on many job advertisements. They actually have the nerve to have a white person come in just long enough to explain the job and show how to do it, to the black person who’s actually going to fill the position (for all the good that does-note SA’s failing infrastructure and the fiascos with their submarines, after they fired or forced to resign, the white officers).

“SAs new motto should be whites need not apply, as is written on many job advertisements. They actually have the nerve to have a white person come in just long enough to explain the job and show how to do it, to the black person whos actually going to fill the position (for all the good that does-note SAs failing infrastructure and the fiascos with their submarines, after they fired or forced to resign, the white officers).”

The same thing is happening in the US, as businesses try to have experienced whites transfer their job knowledge to “preferred minorities”. In the end they have to keep the white guys on staff because the token blacks and women don;t want the work; they just want the pay. To fend off lawsuits, companies have to simply put the “preferred minorities” on the payroll; attempting to get them to earn the pay is asking for trouble. Look at it as another tax, like ObamaCare.

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